


Talk to me

by RebeccaAnabelBurrows



Category: Everworld Series - K. A. Applegate
Genre: Developing Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23962717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebeccaAnabelBurrows/pseuds/RebeccaAnabelBurrows
Summary: After the end of book 12. They'd been together less than a month and Jalil tried not to pry but Christopher is acting weird and he feels insecure.
Relationships: Christopher Hitchcock/Jalil Sherman





	Talk to me

When Jalil opened his eyes, the other side of the bed was cold and empty. He sat and put some clothes on with a sigh. It was the first time this week - it occurred every so often and if he hadn’t been worried for the two first weeks, it had nearly been a month now. It was getting on his nerves.  
What was the point to have a boyfriend if they didn’t confide in you and couldn’t stand the idea of staying in bed with you for a whole night ?   
Jalil pushed back the curtains and opened the French windows. As expected, a familiar figure stood in the balcony, in the cold, shivering.   
The idiot didn’t even have put a coat on, and it was nearly freezing here. Seasons weren’t a thing that really happened in Everworld. It felt more like someone just picked whatever weather they felt like every day, and that someone was an undecided 5 years old.   
It wasn’t the first time Jalil had to collect a freezing Christopher and bring him back to the warmth of their bed, but the way the blond guy’s shoulders shook was new.  
“Christopher.” Jalil called softly.  
Christopher hadn’t heard him until then and his whole body tensed for a few seconds. Eventually, he turned around.  
The feeble lighting from the moon was enough to confirm Jalil’s fears : he had been crying. Christopher looked like he wanted to say something, but he decided against it.  
“Can you come in ? I’d like to talk with you and it’s freezing out there.” Jalil said, tucking at his sleeve.  
They both stepped in and Jalil closed the windows behind them. He gestured to his companion to sit down on their bed and joined him but stayed a bit away, but for reasons unrelated to his OCD.   
“Apparently you don’t want to talk about it, but you just can’t spend your nights on this balcony.” Jalil said.  
Always the practical one. Christopher hid his face into his hands.  
“Look, Chris. I dismissed it at first because I believed you were past this shit, but if laying with a man is too much for your conscience, just say it. No need to make us both miserable.” Jalil said diplomatically.  
He was not one for yelling and fights when he could avoid them. Right now, it distressed Christopher, who didn’t know how to react.   
“I am not changing my mind !” he protested vehemently, his arms crossed on his chest.  
“Really ? So what is it ? Because it looks a lot like it !” Jalil retorted.  
The young man flinched at the vulnerability in his own voice. While fighting back tears and glad that the room was dark enough that his lover couldn’t see it, he felt a cold hand clasp his. Suddenly, it was easier to breathe.  
“You really thought - ? I am not having a sexual identity crisis, okay ? After Elaine, I did some thinking - don’t laugh, you jackass !- and I liked her quite a bit but I eventually realized that I - I didn’t fall for her as badly as I had for… well, for Ganymede.” the blond man explained.  
Jalil squeezed his hand.  
“I am sorry.” he said.  
And he was. A lot of bad things happened to them in Everworld, but Ganymede’s death was one of the worst. He remembered well Christopher drinking his guilt away.  
“It’s okay.” the young man reassured him, drawing slow circles with his thumb on Jalil’s hand.   
“Are you certain ?” Jalil checked once again.  
Christopher buried his face in the soft fabric of Jalil’s tee-shirt, taking in Jalil’s pleasant smell and peaceful heartbeat.  
“Yeah. Other terrible things happened after. And I have you anyway, why would I need an angel-like Greek God for ?” he said in a muffled voice, his cold hands looming underneath Jalil’s t-shirt.   
Jalil tried to stay focused and took both of his boyfriend’s hands into his. They needed to finish this conversation or they never will.  
“Christopher. Just tell me what’s wrong.” he murmured softly.  
And his tone said “Please, trust me.”   
Christopher was not sure what to do with that.  
“I have a brother. A younger one. Brilliant kid if a bit of a smartass. I think you would have liked him. He called me on my bullshit sometimes. I miss him. We mostly argued, but I miss him so much. Last time we talked, we fought. It was always like that. I wish I could have told him he was a good kid before leaving.” Christopher explained.  
“Oh.” Jalil whispered, holding him close.  
“I wish he knew I didn’t leave with some skinheads or something, I’d like him to know the truth of it. But maybe he isn’t as far from the truth than I think.” he said with a laugh.  
Jalil’s face squinted in confusion.  
“What do you mean ?” he asked, curious.  
“Once, during our adventures here, I felt asleep and came back to our world. I said something racist to the kid, and he answered back. To prove him I was not racist, I told him I was sleeping with a black guy. I meant the platonic way. The brat didn’t believe me.”  
Jalil was laughing so hard his ribs hurt.

“I didn’t mean it like that of course, but - yeah. So I guess he might not be that far from the truth. Anyway, I miss him. My parents, too.” he added.

Jalil sighed. His boyfriend was an idiot.

“Why didn’t you talk about it ? We have families too, we would have understand.”

“It’s been three months since we’ve last seen them.”

“So ? You have the right to miss them for as long as you will, no matter if it’s sixty years away from now.” Jalil said. “Next time you woke up from a nightmare and can’t go back to sleep because you miss them, you wake me up and we talk. Deal ?” Jalil said seriously.

Christopher nodded before kissing him lightly. Jalil lightened his hold on his partner’s hands that came back to their task of exploring Jalil’s torso of their own volition.

They had been together for nearly a month now. Maybe it was too soon, maybe not. Christopher was not sure at which point you were supposed to say that in a relationship. Never had. 

“Jalil, I love you.” he mumbled, kissing his boyfriend’s neck.

“That is a good thing, because I love you too.” the other smiled, hands running all over Christopher.

In the morning, at breakfast, when the two men didn’t join them, neither April nor David said anything, even if they refused to meet each other’s eyes.   
Both knew the boys shared a room but were too tactful to point it out, which meant the excuses the two others were feeding them were flimsier every time.

Hopefully Jalil would realize they knew soon, because it was getting more and more embarrassing for each party.

**Author's Note:**

> Posted on ff.net years ago.


End file.
